Today we are checking out the latest Synology product, the DiskStation DS414j which is powered by a dual-core CPU with a floating-point. The DS414j also receives USB 3.0 support which is a first for the budget orientated Ďjí series. The budget-friendly 4-bay NAS server is specifically designed for small offices and home users, so letís take it for a spin...

Synology has been relatively quiet thus far in 2014, with their only new products to arrive being the RackStation RS814+ and RS814RP+ which were announced in January. That said they were no doubt hard at work getting the latest DSM 5.0 version out the door, which they managed to do in March.

The Disk Station Manager 5.0 software elevated the DiskStation range to the next level, with new features and abilities. Best of all the software was compatible with products dating back to the 10-series which were released 4 years ago back in 2010.

Having been impressed with the DSM 5.0 software, we were eager to test out some new 14-series DiskStations. Thankfully we didnít have to wait too long as today marks the arrival of Synologyís latest affordable 4-bay NAS, the DS414j.

Stepping in for the $380 DS413j this newer model promises more features and better performance for the same affordable price.

Since the release of the DS410j all models, which includes the DS411j and DS413j, were based on the exact same design. In fact stack them side-by-side and it would be impossible to tell which one was which (if it werenít for the model name).

Thatís not to say they were all the same, Synology simply upgraded the hardware inside. The DS210j featured the Marvell Kirkwood mv6281 1.0GHz SoC with 128MB of memory. The DS411j was a mild upgrade featuring the same Marvell SoC but this time it was clocked at 1.2GHz. The DS212j was another very mild upgrade as it kept the 1.2GHz version of the Kirkwood mv6281 but doubled the memory capacity to 256MB.

The more recent DS413j featured the most significant upgrades since the original 4-bay Ďjí DS410j. The SoC was upgraded to the newer Marvell Kirkwood mv6282 which ran at 1.6GHz, while the memory capacity was doubled from the previous model to 512MB.

The DS414j goes in a different direction, for the first time in 4 years the 4-bay Ďjí series wonít be built around a Marvell SoC. Instead a MindSpeed Comcerto 2000 1.2GHz SoC will be used and this is the first time we have seen this solution featured in a NAS device. Therefore we have no idea what to expect in terms of performance. That said we expect the DS414j to be faster than the DS413j regardless.

Posted on: 04/29/2014 10:12 AM
I have been waiting to see what they do with the DS414j. Seems like a mild upgrade but if its costs the same then its a good deal. Thanks for the review

chase

Posted on: 04/29/2014 10:03 PM
Just wanted to stop by and say as a DS413j user I couldn't be happier. Last year I had a drive fail but I couldn't figure out what went wrong at the time. Synology spent over 2 hours remotely diagnosing and fixing problems for me. Amazing customer support.

Richie

Posted on: 04/29/2014 11:58 PM
Thank you for the review I had been trying to find what CPU is being used by the DS414J and how it performs. This review was very helpful and the best I have found so far.

Mike T.

Posted on: 06/14/2014 12:58 AM
Great review, thanks! The only glaring error I found was when you talked about the hot-swap access via the thumbscrews. The error is that the bays are hot-swappable. If you check Synology's site (http://www.synology.com/en-us/products/compare_products/DS414j/DS414) you will see that while the DS414 has hot-swappable bays, the DS414j does not. Yeah, I was bummed about that as well, but since it is just me accessing them, I don't mind bringing it down to swap in a new drive.

Mike T.

Posted on: 06/14/2014 12:59 AM
Crap. I meant that the bays are NOT hot-swappable.

Anthony

Posted on: 07/13/2014 09:29 AM
Mike T , real shame you had to get bummed over the hot swappable drive issue - hope that doesnt happen to all synology customers.